It was another cold day with temperatures this morning below zero and afternoon highs in the single digits and low teens. Clouds have been increasing across eastern Iowa this afternoon. Here is a visible satellite image from this afternoon.

The band of clouds over us tonight produced some light snow in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska last night. We will have a chance of light snow or flurries tonight with the potential for light accumulation (less than 1”) in some spots. Flurries will continue into Wednesday morning.

High pressure will move south into the Midwest and clear the clouds Wednesday afternoon. The sky will be clear Wednesday night and it will be colder across the northern half of the viewing area. Some locations will drop below zero again for morning lows. Here is the HPC surface map for Wednesday evening.

Clouds will increase Thursday afternoon with chance of light snow Thursday night. There might be a few flurries lingering into early Friday morning, but for the most part the light snow would be confined to Thursday night. Some light accumulation is possible.

Friday and Saturday will be partly cloudy with a gusty northwest wind Friday and a much lighter wind Saturday.

We are tracking the potential for some active weather Sunday through the first half of next week. Sunday could be a sloppy day with a wintry mix of rain/freezing rain/sleet and snow. It is too early for any specifics on precipitation type/location and amount. Here is the GFS model showing the critical thicknesses. Each of the colored lines could potential be the “rain/snow” line. The pink shading is the precipitation.

Here is an early look at the amount of moisture in the system from Friday evening through Sunday evening. Since there will be no precipitation Saturday the amount on the map from the HPC is for Sunday.

From NWS
1982: Very hazardous winter weather struck Iowa for the third consecutive weekend with rain and freezing rain beginning in southwestern Iowa during the evening of January 21st then changing to snow at times, spreading northeastward overnight, and persisting into the morning of the 23rd in some areas. Southern Iowa was covered with a thick layer of ice and most roads and schools were closed. Heavy snow fell across northern Iowa, especially on the 22nd, with reported storm totals of 12.0 inches at Eldora and Sioux Center, 12.2 inches at Sheldon, 14.0 inches at Mason City, 14.5 inches at Osage, 17.7 inches at Sioux City where 17.4 inches fell just on the 22nd, and 18.3 inches at Le Mars where 15.2 inches fell just on the 22nd. Strong winds blew the snow into drifts 15 to 20 feet high and produced whiteout conditions at times, making travel all but impossible. January 1982 finished as one of the snowiest months on record in Iowa with monthly snowfall totals ranging up to 29.1 inches at Sioux City and 35.0 inches at Dorchester in Allamakee County.

This Day in National/World Weather History …

22 January 1937 → The temperature at Phoenix, AZ plunged to 21 degrees — their 5th coldest temperature on record.

22 January 1943 → Chinook winds during the early morning hours caused the temperature at Spearfish, SD to rise from -4 to 45 in just two minutes, the most dramatic temperature rise in world weather records. An hour and a half later, the mercury plunged from 54 back down to -4 in just twenty-seven minutes.

22 January 1982 → Minneapolis broke its 24-hour snowfall record with 17.2 inches of the white stuff. The previous record had been set just two days earlier, when 17.1 inches fell. (A new record was later set in 1991 with 18.5 inches).